


At Death's Door

by Khaesii



Category: Bleach
Genre: Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Angst, Character Development, Characters to be added, Disease, Multi, Relationships to be added - Freeform, Survival Horror, Warnings to be added, eventually, mental trauma, non-canon character deaths, realistic injury expectations, there will be smut
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-29
Updated: 2016-01-25
Packaged: 2018-04-28 17:03:35
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,674
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5098415
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Khaesii/pseuds/Khaesii
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A university degree, a boyfriend, an awesome family. </p>
<p>Ichigo is content with his current situation, and he promises his sisters that as soon as he graduates with his doctor's license, he'll return home to help his father at their clinic. </p>
<p>However dreams are shattered, tears fall and blood is spilled, as an infectious disease runs rampant, and brings humanity to the brink of extinction.<br/>ON HOLD UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Beginning of the end

**Author's Note:**

> This fan fiction is set in my own alternate universe, which is pretty much a mix of Japan, America and England.  
> Japan because that's where bleach is set, so it's easier, America because America suits where I want the story to be set(England is too small), and England, because I'm British, and I can't help it :) 
> 
> I am doing some digital art to explain some things, but I couldn't wait to post it, so here it is already.
> 
> There will be some warnings added later on, as well as Characters and relationships, just a fair warning; things will change.  
> I'm planning on this being a very long work, and it is my main project, but it is filled top to toe with Angst, poor Ichi.

The figure standing at the school gate checked the time on his phone for the second time, his foot thumping against the asphalt with impatience.

A dark navy hoodie covered vibrant orange hair, leaving any onlooker to assume he was a delinquent, he wasn’t surprised when they gave him a wide berth as they passed.

The 18 year old teen snapped his head up when he heard the all too familiar tone of his little sister’s voice.

“Bro!” She called as she sauntered towards him, the studs of her soccer boots creating obnoxiously loud taps on the hard flooring.

Her brother smiled in relief at the sight of her, stretching out his arms for a hug, only to be rejected by a studded shoe to the face.  
  
“Ew, you’re so like the old goat when you do that Ichi.” Ichigo rubbed his face with a scowl.  
  
“Oi, don’t compare me to him, and it’s your fault for being so late Karin! I was about to rush in there myself and show the coach what’s what.” He gestured wildly to the time displayed on his phone.

  
Karin raised an eyebrow at her brother. “Is five minutes difficult for you? Got somewhere to be? Someone to smooch?”  
  
 Ichigo rolled his eyes at her insinuation, and ruffled her hair, earning him a sharp glare.  
“No Karin, we have got to get back; Dad’s not home and Yuzu said dinner would be ready _five minutes_ ago!” Ichigo started for his motorbike, a shining orange Kawasaki ninja; the love of his life.

Ichigo gave Karin his helmet, and she squeezed onto the back, he had to hope there weren’t any cops nearby, otherwise he’d be in trouble for not wearing his helmet- especially because the chief of department knew his dad.  
  
“Alright, Kawasaki?” Karin addressed the bike, it was a running joke since Yuzu had misinterpreted what he meant when he told them his Kawasaki ninja was in the back, and she immediately scolded him for making Mr.Ninja wait outside.  
  
 Ichigo snickered, and patted “Kawasaki”’s grip.

“He’s had it a bit rough today actually, almost crashed into some dude who chased this woman across the road, I don’t know what the idiot thought he was doing, he just continued across like nothing happened, I mean, people get desperate, but there’s a limit you know?” Karin frowned and patted the bike’s tail lights in mock-sympathy.  
  
But then she grinned as she no doubt thought of something witty to say.  
  
“Well, I don’t know, I’ve seen some desperate people before, like that time Shuuhei accused you of cheating on him, and you practically took him to court to prove you’d done no such thing.” Ichigo scowled, reminded of that embarrassing time.

It wasn’t entirely his fault, the idea of him possibly cheating on his long-time boyfriend with Uryu Ishida, his cousin no less, was horrifying- he just happened to bump into him at the mall one day, and Shuuhei’s conniving best buddy Shiro saw them and ratted him out to him.

He still hadn’t forgiven that obnoxious prick for starting the mess in the first place.

He’d ran straight to the mall and gathered video footage of the entire encounter, also dragging Ishida along as an alibi to plead his case, in the end, Shuuhei had laughed and said he’d only needed Ichigo’s word against Shiro’s, because he knew the guy tended to over analyse things,  and Ichigo ended up looking pretty stupid.

Ichigo smiled as he remembered his partner, and Karin fake-vomited behind him.  
“Alright Lovestruck, take me home, I think I’d prefer Yuzu’s nagging to watching you fawn over mister Heroic.” Ichigo gave her a glare and revved the engine loudly, catching the attention of a number of pedestrians, but also scaring the shit out of his smug sister.  
  
He’d fitted a dual seat to his bike when he first came home from University, knowing Karin would love to go for a drive on it, it had taken a while to convince his father to let him take her for a ride, but it only took an eventual pleading from the oldest of the twins for his pushover of a Father to give way.

 Now he picked her up with Kawasaki Ninja whenever she had soccer, and he was home on break from University.

Ichigo didn’t give her a chance to retort has he accelerated down the street, passing a number of unimpressed citizens, yes Kawasaki’s loud, but Ichigo didn’t give a shit.  
  
They reached home within five minutes, Ichigo increasing his speed a little more than necessary, because even when his sisters were used to being home alone, he didn’t like leaving them for too long.  
  
Ichigo parked his bike in the open garage, and Karin returned his helmet to him.  
  
“Go change out of your kit, but don’t walk those shoes into the house.” Ichigo said as he turned the engine off and flipped the stand.  
  
“Yes _mother._ ” Ichigo smiled as she left the room, and continued to put his helmet away.  
  
Having been forced to take the roll of housekeeper when their mother had died, Ichigo was used to being teased about it, in fact, now he only felt a sense of reassurance at the nostalgic complaint.

Yuzu had cooked Ichigo’s favourite, Karashi mentaiko. As he caught the scent of fish, he moaned and hastily took his place at the table. Yuzu beamed at him, and he smiled at her adorable attitude.  
“I made your favourite, Ichi.” Yuzu exclaimed as she placed the traditional Japanese dish in front of him. “And I melted some chocolate, so we can dip some strawberries in it when we watch a film.”

“What’s the occasion?” Ichigo questioned, while Yuzu always tried making food he liked when he was back, mentaiko was rare, as his father and herself didn’t like it all that much.  
  
Yuzu grinned and gave him a peck on the cheek.  
  
“Well, you’ll be celebrating your nineteenth when you’re at University, so I thought we could have a little celebration before you go back on Tuesday.” Karin entered as she said this, dressed casually in jeans and a loose t-shirt.  
  
“Yeah, ‘cus we know all you’ll be doing on your birthday is going out and getting drunk, that or getting screwed into the sheets by Hisagi.” Ichigo almost choked on his own spit when she said that, she may be fifteen, but Ichigo couldn’t help but wonder where she’d heard that language from.  
  
Yuzu looked horrified, whining about the wrong kind of image as she ran out of the room with her ears plugged by her fingers.  
  
“Karin what the flip, “Ichigo gasped, careful of his language, even if she wasn’t “have you been talking to Shiro too much or something?” he asked, no doubt in his mind that if she’d heard about Shuuhei ‘screwing’ him, she’d have heard it from his foul-mouthed friend.  
  
She only shrugged and sat down.  
  
“Whatever, haven’t heard from Shuuhei recently, how’s he been?” Ichigo huffed at the sudden change in topic, and Yuzu poked her head around the corner.  
  
“Is it safe yet?” she asked, attempting to glare at her sister, but it only turned out looking like a pout.  
  
“Yes Yuzu, Karin won’t mention it again.” He stated, giving the darker-haired twin a pointed look as Yuzu took her seat. “And Shuu’s just fine, thank you, he’s going to pick me up on Tuesday with his truck so I can take Kawasaki back with me.”  Ichigo finished the conversation, taking a mouthful of his fish to avoid more questions.

The three Kurosakis continued their meal with idle chit-chat, Ichigo’s boyfriend failing to reappear in the conversation, Ichigo was collecting the plates in when Yuzu popped the question.  
  
“Why is dad taking so long on this trip?” she asked, staring intently at the wooden table beneath her fidgeting palms.  
  
 Ichigo only stopped what he was doing for a second, determined not to think about it for too long, and most importantly, not worry his little sisters.  
  
“Well, he contacted me earlier today,” Ichigo started, placing the dirty dishes into the sink for him to clean later. “He said they’d had some kind of outbreak over there, and they needed a man with his experience on the scene.”  
  
He reassured his concerned sister, failing to mention the part that involved the violence and homicidal tendencies of those infected, and the fact that Isshin thought it could potentially spread across the country if he couldn’t deal with it properly.

Karin looked at him dubiously. “Well they must be really fudged if they need the old goat’s supposed skill.” She said, reigning in her foul language only for her sister’s sake.  
  
“Yeah well, let’s hope he’s back soon.” Ichigo said, trying to finish the conversation. “Hey Yuzu, you said something about strawberries? How about we go in the other room and watch something? You guys can choose.”  
  
Yuzu, who had been silently staring at her hands, lifted her head and nodded.  
“Yeah, great idea Ichi. I’ll heat the chocolate.” She stood and grabbed the melted chocolate from the side.  
  
Ichigo looked at Karin and motioned to the living-room with his head. She followed him into the other room and sat on the armchair adjacent to the sofa, Ichigo sat on the end, giving space to Yuzu so she could sit next to him.

Yuzu brought the strawberries and chocolate in, and cuddled next to Ichigo, they ended up watching The Avengers for the seventh time, and Yuzu fell asleep on his leg.

Ichigo looked at his sisters, Yuzu was drooling in her sleep on his skinny jeans, and Karin was cheering for Iron man as he nuked the Aliens, even though she already knew he was going to do that.

He  smiled fondly at this memory they were creating together- he never told them- but he always got quite down when he was away for so long, and seeing them for a week or two had been awesome.

 He was definitely going to remember this when he was back in University, studying medical theory and what-not.

Ichigo often helped his father in the clinic, and had decided to become a licensed doctor so he could take over when his dad retired.

 School work was hard, but being able to help people like his sisters would make up for it. Just then, Ichigo felt a vibration from his pocket, he pulled out his phone and checked his messages.

_Shuu- wuu2 gorgeous? ;P_ A text from Shuuhei, Ichigo rolled his eyes at his attitude.  
  
_watching a film with my sisters._ Ichigo wasn’t one for emojis, he thought they were embarrassing.  
  
_shuu- oh wow, I told you American pie was too mature for them, you’re so irresponsible._  
  
 Ichigo muffled a laugh with the thought of his sisters watching such a thing, earning a suspicious glance from Karin.  
  
_gotta start somewhere._ He replied quickly, and spent little time on facebook, reading through his university friend’s status updates.

 A number of them were complaining about school, or illness, saying they hoped they wouldn’t catch the bug going round.

But strangely enough, there weren’t very many at all, even the friends who sent pictures of every meal they had each day hadn’t posted much, and the most recent post was sent four hours ago.  
  
Ichigo frowned, but he assumed that they were busy preparing to leave Uni for the summer, Ichigo had decided to come home early for a few weeks, mainly because he couldn’t wait to see his sisters, but also because he had a lot of revision and studies to do, so it was better for him if he stayed on campus during summer break.   
  
Ichigo shut his phone off and slipped it into his pocket, then wiped the last strawberry around the remains of chocolate in the bowl, lazily slipping it into his mouth and chewing.  
  
He air was stuffy inside, and suddenly Ichigo felt like taking a walk outside, he looked around to see if his sisters would want to come.  
  
 The film was finishing, and Karin was slouching on the side of her chair, she’d probably dose off soon, Yuzu was curling up on the sofa, no longer leaning on his leg.  
  
_oh well_ , He took his chance, quietly switching the TV off, and getting up off the couch, he grabbed two blankets and covered his sisters- they’d go to bed when they woke up.

_What’s happening on your end?_ Ichigo asked his boyfriend, wondering what he could possibly be doing that was less interesting than asking Ichigo what he was doing.  
  
 Shuuhei didn’t reply immediately, which was strange, but Ichigo assumed he got distracted, and finished cleaning the kitchen.  
  
It took Shuuhei a record nine minutes to reply, making Ichigo all the more curious; whistling when he saw the long message.

_Shuu-  Something nasty is going down next door, so weird, I never thought they’d be ones for domestic violence. Anyways, it sounded pretty bad so I went round, I’m pretty sure this guy’s ill or something, he actually tried to bite me, and so we locked him in the closet. X3 Shiro got pretty upset about it obviously, and he’s giving the dude a lot of shit, telling him he’ll call the police on him and stuff, only the police line is always busy. Certainly wasn’t expecting this on a Sunday night._  
I’ll keep you up to date babe, can’t wait to see you on Tuesday XX ;)  
  
 Ichigo couldn’t deny he was shocked.  
  
_Lucy and Johnny had a domestic?! SHIT! They were always so sweet to each-other, I wonder what went wrong. Yeah I’ll see you on Tuesday, I might pop to the shops while the girls are sleeping on the sofa._  
  
 Ichigo slid his phone into his pocket, and grabbed his leather jacket from the hallway, making sure to close the front door quietly so he didn’t wake his sisters.

The evening air bit at his skin as he strolled down the path on his street, making his way to the corner shop a few streets away.

The night was quiet, unusually so, and Ichigo found himself appreciating the view of his neighbourhood without the usual hustle.

Ichigo passed a familiar alley, and cringed when he heard a cat-call from within.  
“Hey fuck if it’s got a dick, I’d tap that ass.” A rough voice reached his ears from the shadows, and Ichigo heard a number of whistles from other figures, these so-called punks were shameless, arrogant and rude.

  
He had half the mind to beat them all up, and show them what that ass could do, however he dealt with people like this all the time, and he didn’t want to waste his breath; they were usually just joking around anyway.

He continued down the road, ignoring the calls for him to come back, and crossed the street.

Ichigo passed a shop with broken windows, and curiously looked inside.  
  
The shelves were strewn around the place, stock littering the floor and the door to the back hanging open, it seemed no one was in.

Ichigo sighed and pulled his phone out, if no one else was going to tell the cops, he would.  
  
It better not have been those hoodies he’d just passed, how disrespectful, if they were still there on his way back he’d teach them some manners.  
  
After the third time his call was turned away because of engaged lines, Ichigo gave up, there was security cameras inside the store anyway, he doubted those boys were getting away with this one.  
  
The strangest thing was though; nothing from the store seemed to have been stolen. That just made Ichigo angrier, the punks had the nerve to vandalise just because they felt like it.

He continued towards his usual corner store, and stalked through the double doors, luckily the owner knew him well enough not to think he was raiding the place.  
  
He grabbed his packet of mints quickly, and approached the till.  
  
“ Tessai?” The tall but friendly man was missing from behind the counter. “What the hell?” Ichigo was a little shocked; the man cared a great deal for his store, and to leave it un-tended to like this was just asking for trouble.

Ichigo left more money than necessary on the counter, and wrote a little note saying that it was him, and what he’d bought.

As Ichigo stepped back out into the evening air, he felt on-edge - something about his surroundings screamed danger, but as he looked around he saw nothing but empty streets.

Only that was part of the problem; although Ichigo hated to admit it, his family didn’t exactly live in the cleanest part of the city, so there would at least be a number of hooded figures lurking around.  
  
The most Ichigo had seen all day were the group of teens down the alley a while back.

When Ichigo’s boot hit the tar of the road, a high-pitched sound reached his ears, that much louder than the thud his shoes would have created.

He whipped around in the direction he had heard the noise from, and listened.

There it was again, a metallic sound like a can being kicked; so there were people out after all.  
   
Ichigo narrowed his eyes and continued down the road, he never liked to get himself involved in the business of those his age around here, but that wasn’t to say he wouldn’t fight back if provoked; he’d been sent home many times for beating kids up at school, but now he knew what trouble it caused his Dad, he tried to avoid it.

Ichigo immediately felt the presence behind him; he didn’t turn, but increased his pace to walk steadily across onto the path.  
  
He watched from the corner of his eye, trying to pinpoint where he had felt the presence of a person, but no one was in sight.

“Tch.” He couldn’t be bothered to deal with these arrogant pricks, if it was those boys he’d ran into in the alley, they were in trouble.

He ignored his instincts and stalked down the path; if they wanted to mess with him so badly they would have to catch him first.

He made a quick turn into an alley to attempt at throwing them off, the grey walls of the alleyway closed in on him, and he became tense- only the echoing sounds of his feet and his breath accompanied him.

Ichigo swerved around another corner, and leant against the wall, he didn’t hear anything following him, so he paused to catch his breath while surveying his surroundings.

He’d been here before, and knew that if he went any further he’d meet a dead-end; if he waited a bit and then returned, he should be able to avoid any followers.

Five minutes passed, and Ichigo did not hear anything from the way he had come, however the darkness of evening caused Ichigo’ senses to be on high alert; the air was thick with tension.

Ichigo shuffled along the wall towards the corner, careful not to make even the smallest of noises.  
  
He wouldn’t bother so much with a couple of hoodlums usually, but something was wrong, Ichigo could hear the beat of his heart in his head-his body was on full alert-yet he didn’t know why.

Ichigo peaked around the corner of the wall, exposing his head to the darkness of the alleyway.  
  
“Graargh!” Ichigo was thrown backwards, his back hitting the corner of a dumpster, and momentarily winding him.

He fell to his hands, the gravel on the alley floor cutting into his palms and grazing his forearms.  
  
Ichigo had little time to think before he was tackled by a manic wall of muscle, the hooded figure was screaming, growling almost, and Ichigo fought to push him away with his feet.  
  
“F-fuck!! Get off of me!” Ichigo yelled at him, but either his message failed to reach him, or he just didn’t care, the man clawed at his hands, locking Ichigo beneath him- his nails dug in so hard they drew blood.

Ichigo grabbed the stranger’s arms and pulled them away from him; if he could stop him from getting a good grip he may be able to throw him off.

The man was creating a series of horrific almost animal like growls, and he was snapping his jaws- the sound of his teeth echoed with his moans, and Ichigo was convinced he was on drugs.

Ichigo had mere seconds to snap his neck away before teeth bit into empty air, _what the fuck?_

“Look dude, you need help! Stop!” his attempts at reasoning with him were futile.

Ichigo found himself struggling to keep his neck away from wondering teeth while restraining the man’s arms.

The last thing he wanted was to get bitten by this likely drug-addict; the possibility of him carrying a disease carried by bodily fluids was very high- he didn’t need six years at University to know that.

Ichigo needed to get away, and he needed to get way immediately, screw the consequences.  
  
Ichigo looked around quickly, let go of one of his attacker’s arms, and reached for the nearest heavy-looking object.  
The brick collided with the man’s head, and blood splattered on Ichigo’s white t-shirt.

Ichigo froze, the body of the man crumpling to the floor.   _Shit, had he just killed someone?_  
  
An arm grabbed at is ankle, and Ichigo kicked it away, climbing to his feet and sprinting down the alley.

_Shit, shit, shit shit!!_ Ichigo didn’t stop running, his boots creating loud thumps on the asphalt.  
  
_if he sues me, I have the excuse of self-defence._ The adrenaline still pumped through his veins, shock from seeing, _feeling,_ the blood soak into his clothes fresh in his mind.

_He shouldn’t have survived that._ Ichigo couldn’t shake the doubt that there was something seriously wrong with that man.

Ichigo was wheezing deeply by the time he reached home, he couldn’t risk others seeing the blood on his clothes, and had run full pelt all the way.

However no one was in sight, not even a single light came from the houses around him, and Ichigo noticed a number of broken windows-more than usual- and open doors. _What the fuck is going on?_

His fear increased with every empty garden, each breath shook his lungs, and he became desperate to reach his sisters.

Ichigo’s heart stopped when he saw the open door of his house, the shattered windows, and the blood trailing up the path.

Ichigo’s knees became weak when he heard the blood-curdling scream of one of his sister’s from within his own home.

 

 

 

 


	2. Three's a crowd

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promised this while ago, and got distracted, ill try get back into it, i have a lot of plans for this work. I just need inspiration.

Within seconds, Ichigo was through the door, tripping over his own feet down the hallway, and following the path of blood up the stairs.

He heard it before he saw it, the animalistic groans, and the snapping teeth.   
  
_The druggie from the alley? But how?_ A scream sent a blood-curling chill down his spine, _wrong, a scream like that should never breach their lips._

“Yuzu! Karin!” Without hesitation, Ichigo slammed his entire weight into the body before his sisters, sending it to the floor, he had seconds to think.

He looked over to his sisters, Karin was stood infront of Yuzu, her arms out to protect her twin sister.

Yuzu was stood behind her, cradling an injured arm to her chest, they both looked at him, relief clear on their faces. _He had to protect them, they looked to him for help._

“Get in the bathroom! Lock yourselves in, don’t come out for _anything_!” The figure had climbed to its feet again. “Quickly!” He didn’t turn to watch them close the door, his eyes were fixed on the man’s face, completely emotionless, not angry, scared or even amused.

But the thing that caught his attention the most were his eyes, the irises were a clouded blue, perhaps not that uncommon, it was possible he had contact lenses on. However they were also pupil-less, _that’s not right._

Before Ichigo could think further into it, the man attacked him, it lurched at him with its arms out, and he barely had time to roll to the side, the growling figure slammed into the bathroom door behind him, and he heard two shrill shrieks from inside.

The man clawed at the door, reacting to the screams, he was trying to bite the wood with his teeth.

Ichigo crouched on the floor, staying silent, and stared in shock. Was this man ill? Saliva and blood from the splinters in the door rimmed his mouth, his movements were wild and uncoordinated.

He seemed to have forgotten Ichigo was even there, only seeming to care about his sister’s behind the door, was he really just after them?

Ichigo moved back a little, and knocked the drawers, a number of objects fell onto the carpeted floor with a thud. He looked for something he could use among them, but his thoughts were cut short when he was thrown backwards into the wall behind him.

A pained yell escaped him as his leg was crushed beneath the man’s knee, he heard concerned shouts from the bathroom, and he struggled to keep snapping jaws away from his face.

The man above him was shrieking, clawing at his arms wildly- Ichigo grabbed the collar of his shirt, and threw him away from him. His body bounced off of the wall and he rolled over himself when he landed, his sense of direction thrown off.

Ichigo stayed completely silent, his head was beginning to throb from him restraining his breaths, but he had to stay quiet. Just as he thought, the man paused, listening for something, turning his head, his eyes passed over him, but he did not move.

_He can’t see very well, can he?_ He could use this to his advantage, he could probably see sudden movements, otherwise he wouldn’t have hit Ichigo a second ago, and gone for the fallen objects instead.

If he moved slowly, he might be able to sneak away. Ichigo crawled backwards towards the stairs, he kept his eyes locked onto the rabid stranger, and felt his way down the first step.

 A slight breeze hit him for the open door downstairs, and Ichigo froze in bewilderment as the man sniffed in his direction, _he can’t **smell** me can he?! _

“Shit!” he cursed, he was trapped, and the only way to go was down. As the man swung for him, he instinctively leaned back and when there was no ground beneath his feet, he felt his stomach drop. __  
  
The noise must have been horrendous, both him and his attacker tumbled down the stairs, Ichigo yelled in pain when his body collided with the floor, he was momentarily winded, and felt the sticky feeling of blood down the side of his face.

The world was spinning, and he couldn’t focus his vision. He tried to climb to his feet- his breathing gasping and panicked. _Where is he?_

He couldn’t focus, only blurred shapes moved around him, and he felt the sharp corner of the kitchen island pointing into his sides, then he heard the shatter of ceramic as he collapsed into the table, and the plates fell to the floor.

His question was soon answered as he felt hands grab him, and heard groans, but he couldn’t pinpoint where they were coming from; his head was spinning, he felt like he was going to pass out from the pain.

_Shit, am I going to die here? Is he going to kill me?_ He felt sharp nails dig into his arms, and a figure crossed his vision.

As Ichigo’s eyes adjusted, he could finally see the face of the man over him, and it forced a horror filled scream to breach his lips.

He kicked and screamed, trying with anything he had to get it away from him, _that isn’t a man, it’s a monster._

Blood dripped from it onto Ichigo’s shirt, staining the white a terrifying red. It’s teeth scraped against his forearms as he pushed it away. Yet he felt no pressure from a bite.

The reason for this was clear, and it continued to pull disbelieving screams from Ichigo’s throat. The man was missing his jaw.

The sound of snapping teeth no longer sent chills down Ichigo’s spine, but something worse shook his conscience to the core. _He shouldn’t be alive! He **can’t** be alive!_

As his mind cleared, he managed to shove him away, forcing himself to his feet; he looked around for a weapon. He quickly withdrew a large kitchen knife from its holster, but as he turned around to face the monster again, he was thrown off his feet.

Bloodied hands clawed at his ankles, and Ichigo felt himself fall backwards, his head collided with the counter, and sent him limp onto the floor.

Nausea overwhelmed him, the world spun even faster, and he couldn’t even feel the ground beneath him.

Teeth scraped against his neck, the body on top of him was suffocating him. _Was this how it was going to end? Murdered? **Pathetic** , I can’t even take care of my own sisters. _

_My sisters._ Ichigo felt tears prick his eyes, _is he going to kill them, too?_ The thought of them finding him dead on the floor soaking in his own blood upset him profusely. But what if his murderer just went upstairs and broke the door down? What if his sisters had to go through this as well?

nonononono, Ichigo grit his teeth, _please, not my sisters._ The cold metal of the knife against his sweating palm brought him back to reality.  _I’m not going to die here._   
  
Without even thinking about it, he swung the knife around, and cringed at the crunch that came as a result. The weight stilled on top of him, and he felt it slip off onto the tiled kitchen floor.

Only the sound of his own hammering heart and uncontrolled breaths echoed through the room, but the clang of the knife on the tiles below joined them, as Ichigo’s consciousness slipped away.

 

Ichigo awoke to a terrible throbbing in his head, his entire body ached, and each breath he drew sent a groan past his lips. He was wheezing with the struggle to draw breath, and he could tell something was wrong with his lungs or diaphragm.

He opened his eyes slowly, the artificial kitchen light above him made his head pulse. He looked around, blinking his eyes in an attempt to adjust. A body lay next to him on the floor, and he restrained a strangled yelp as his memories returned to him.

“Gugh!” Ichigo hunched over from the pain of sitting up so suddenly, and braced himself on his hands and knees, fighting the nausea. He sat for a moment, waiting for his head to stop spinning.

As his dizziness subsided, he looked around. Blood splattered the counter next to him, and around him on the kitchen tiles. His shirt was also soaked in a thick red patch of  blood, and he wiped at it with his hand, _shit, have I actually just killed someone this time?_

He looked to the body lying on the floor a feet or two away from him, and covered his mouth with a hand as he saw the knife wound on his head.  There was no way he’d survive that, _oh fuck, I’ve just killed someone._

Panic started to eat at him, was he going to be set to jail for man-slaughter? But, it was self-defense, right? He’d attacked his sisters, he was defending them. _Oh god, my sisters._

Ichigo crawled to his feet, ignoring the searing pains in his joints and around his abdomen. He scrambled past the body and into the hallway, banging against the opposite wall.

He took a moment to catch his breath, each step was agony; there was something seriously wrong with him.

A cold gust of wind from outside caught his attention, the door swung open in the breeze, showing Ichigo the horror outside.

Smoke rose from deeper within the city, the surrounding area illuminated by the amber light from the fire it came from, other than that, dots of lights from random windows in high-rise buildings were the only implication that the city was there at all.

But what caught Ichigo’s attention more than the city devoid of its usual buzz of life, was the road outside his home; the automatic street lights sent a circle of artificial light around them.

Ichigo was frozen in shock, bordering horror, as he watched the figures at the end of his drive.

One was leaning over the other, clawing at it, but it wasn’t moving, Ichigo couldn’t see clearly, but he could tell there was something very wrong with the person on the floor.

He could also tell that the one on top of it wasn’t being friendly. If Ichigo didn’t have such a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach, he would assume he was witnessing some kind of sexual assault.

The person on top was biting at the other’s neck, clawing at its clothes. Ichigo controlled his breathing again, the pain of it made him sob a little, but he slowly moved towards the door.

And that was when it looked up, Ichigo gasped, and grabbed at his mouth to prevent him from screaming. Blood covered her mouth, and she was chewing on a chunk of flesh, the corpse below her was missing parts of his flesh, his eyes, cheeks and a huge section of his neck.

Ichigo acted before he thought, and shut the door quickly, trying to not make any noise. And when he leaned against it, he slid to the floor, his sobs becoming uncontrollable.

He hugged his knees into his chest and let his emotions take control. _What’s going on?_

He had just witnessed a murder, and **cannibalism**. And he’d just murdered someone too.

Ichigo clenched his fists, now wasn’t the time to break down, he had to make sure his sisters were safe.

Ichigo slowly made his way up the stairs, his pain being forgotten for the sake of his sisters.

He was panting harshly by the time he made it up, and was relieved to find that the door to the bathroom was still intact.

He approached the door, and heard crying inside, _did something happen?_

He  knocked three times quickly, and then twice as hard as he could; their secret knock, which he used when they were younger to tell the it was him, and not their father who they were probably upset with at the time.

He would have called out to them, but he couldn’t bring up his voice in between his gasping breaths.

He heard scrambling from inside, and the sound of the lock being undone. Then, the door swung open to reveal a sobbing Karin, Ichigo was taken aback, having never seen her cry very often before.

“Ichigo!” she yelled, her voice cracking, she launched herself into his arms, followed by Yuzu behind her, who was almost wailing.

“Ichi! We thought you were dead.” Yuzu cried as she buried her head into his chest. “You never came back up!”  Ichigo wrapped his arms around them, trying to comfort them.

“S-sorry, Karin, Yuzu.” His voice was weak and broken, due to his throat being abused by his gasping breaths, he knew something was wrong with his lung, but he didn’t have time to rest.

Karin stepped back and looked up at him properly, wiping her tears away with her sleeve. He noticed her gaze linger on his shirt soaking in blood, and the trail down his face, before her eyes snapped to his with shock.

Before she could say anything, Yuzu yelped. “I-ichi! There’s blood!” She pulled away from him, her panicking gaze looking around for something to stop the bleeding.   
  
“shh, it’s okay, Yuzu, It’s not mine.” Yuzu visibly relaxed, but Karin tensed, seeming to be the only one who caught on to what that meant.

“What happened?” She asked, her gaze shifting to look passed the open door behind him.

Ichigo followed her gaze, and sighed, his breaths becoming more controlled, but it still hurt, so he balanced himself against the wall, and slid to the floor.

He looked to Yuzu, who was crying into his shoulder next to him, curling up between him and the bathroom counter.

“I …” What could he say? I’m sorry, but your brother may be going away for a while, he just killed someone? And what about the things going on outside? How was he supposed to explain to them that their world had gone to shit around them? “…I sorted it out.”

He stared at the ceiling, remembering the events his sisters failed to see behind the closed door. His fall down the stairs, which should have killed the other man, _his jaw was ripped off._ Yet he still came after him.

The knife, sinking into his attacker’s skull, the murder outside, the _flesh_ hanging from that woman’s mouth. Ichigo shuddered, and pulled Yuzu closer to him, burying his face into her soft hair.

Karin stayed silent, and closed the door, unwilling to face what her brother was so afraid of.

“Yuzu got bitten by him.” She stated, sitting on the edge of the bathtub.

Ichigo looked up in shock, and Yuzu whined, burying her head further underneath his arm.

“Bitten? Yuzu, what happened? Show me.” Yuzu lifted her face, snot and tears made it damp, she looked a mess.

Ichigo grabbed her arm as she brought it up for him to see. Dried blood stuck to her pink cardigan, and he could see the marks where teeth had pierced her skin.

“I-It’s not that bad, Ichi, it’s dried and everything, but…it hurts a little.” She mumbled, her eyes drooping with fatigue.

Ichigo sighed and kissed the top of her head. “You’re a brave girl, Yuzu.” He looked over to her sister. “Could you get me the first aid kit under the sink Karin?”

Karin did as she was told, opening the cabinet, and pulling out the large green box. She placed it by his feet, and Ichigo removed a number of antibacterial lotions, bandages and plasters.

“How did it happen?” He asked as he rolled Yuzu’s sleeve up, and started to clean the wound with the antibacterial wipes. Yuzu whimpered and rested her head against him; she was unlikely to answer, so he glanced at Karin quickly to direct the question at her.

“Well, the fucktard was banging on the door really strangely, almost like he was ramming into it. Yuzu thought it would be a good idea to open the door, and he went straight for her.” She gave her twin a stern look as she explained, but Ichigo didn’t miss the hands rubbing at the goose-bumps on her arms.   
  
“I barely had time to grab my baseball bat before he bit her. And he hardly even reacted to having a bat to the face, not like I stuck around to ask him how he felt though; I grabbed Yuzu and told her to run upstairs, while I threatened the guy, and tried to call the police.”

Her breath shook a little, and she paused, looking Ichigo in the eye. “Ichi, no one was answering, how could the line be that busy? What’s going on?”

Ichigo averted his gaze and sighed, while running a hand through Yuzu’s hair.   
“I don’t know, Karin…” Ichigo’s mind wondered back to his walk, and the man that attacked him in the alley, was he one of them, too? “But hey, I’m sure it’ll be okay, and Yuzu, it might hurt a little for a while, but your arm will be fine, alright?”

Yuzu whimpered in reply, her mind seemingly fogged with sleep. He sighed after fixing a small bandage around her arm, and moved to get up, Yuzu’s forehead slumped against the wall. “Karin, sit with your sister, I have some other calls to make.”

Ichigo climbed to his feet, cringing at the pain such a simple action caused, but he didn’t make any noise-he had to stay strong for his sisters.

He left the door open, and walked into his own room, bringing out his mobile from his pocket. The first person he tried to call was Shuuhei, if he remembered correctly- their next-door neighbours seemed to have suspicious symptoms, and it made Ichigo worried.

The tone rang for what felt like five minutes, before he was directed to voicemail.

“shit.” Ichigo cursed under his breath, why wasn’t he answering, had something happened?

He wasted no time before calling his dad; if this was some kind of disease, he would know what was going on.

Ichigo held the phone to his ear, and walked down the stairs, he was directed to voicemail just as he reached the front door, and he hissed as he locked it- he wasn’t taking any chances.

He proceeded to call a number of relatives, and some friends that lived in the area, while locking the windows in the house; he blocked the broken one with a picture frame.

Each time the phone was off- or he was sent to voicemail- and he was becoming frustrated. When he ventured into the kitchen, he almost gagged at the sight of the corpse on the floor, and he rushed to lock the window, before shutting the doors either side- his sisters didn’t need to see this.

Ichigo finally gave up; he slipped his phone back into his pocket- making sure it wasn’t on silent- so he’d know if someone called him back.

He rubbed a hand down his face, the silence and chill in the hallway he was standing in made him uneasy. For now, there was nothing he could do.

Ichigo looked to the shut door of the kitchen, they couldn’t stay here- there was blood everywhere.  Ichigo surveyed his surroundings; the hardwood of the stairs looked split- had his fall really done that?

Ichigo’s stomach dropped as he noticed the jaw of the man that attacked him lying at the bottom of the stairs, split in two and caked in blood. The smell of iron and sudden nausea made him turn away. That was the final straw; he had to get his sisters away before they saw this.

 He ran through possible places they could retreat to in his mind, where could they go?  The relatives that lived in the city weren’t answering their phones; did that mean that the inner city was crawling with maniacs too?

Then he remembered, his cousin, Uryu, had moved into the country with his dad when his mother died, it happened recently, and he hadn’t visited yet-but anywhere outside of the city would be best.

He flipped through his contacts before he reached Uryu’s, and hit the call button. When the monotone voice telling him the number was not in use reached his ears, he groaned in frustration. Of course, he’d gotten a new phone when he left.   
  
He cursed under his breath, and searched through a number of cards on the mantelpiece. If he remembered correctly, his uncle had sent a card to the twins for their birthday, and it had their new address on it.

They wouldn’t appreciate them turning up out of the blue, but he was sure that once he explained what had happened, they would excuse it. With his mind set, and the envelope with the Ishida’s address on it, he turned back towards the blood-splattered steps.

It was painful, climbing stairs; he began to suspect that he had a bruised lung, badly bruised. He had enough medical experience to know what that meant.   
  
Depending how bad it is, it could get worse, making every breath a battle against the pain.

He remembered someone coming in the clinic once when he was younger, they’d fallen off a pier, and onto the damp compact sand below, which had slightly cushioned their fall, but the slight bruising on their lungs meant they were given a month paid-leave from work.

Ichigo couldn’t afford a month’s rest, especially not right now. And something told him that falling down the stairs was a lot worse than falling onto the sand below a pier.

When Ichigo finally hauled himself up the last of the steps, he saw that Yuzu was fast asleep, her head resting on her sister’s shoulder as she sat next to her on the bathroom floor.  He took a detour into their room and grabbed a blanket and a pillow.

He handed them to Karin and whispered. “Here, let her rest for a while. Can you pack your school-bags with some essentials; we’re going to stay with our uncle for a while.” Karin blinked while she processed the information, no doubt shocked that they would be leaving the house without their Dad.

However she didn’t say anything, her absolute trust in her brother allowed her to follow without questions. She placed the pillow against the cabinet, and slowly lowered Yuzu’s head against it, covering her with the blanket.

She got to her feet , and moved past Ichigo into her bedroom. He watched Yuzu for a little, becoming concerned with how pale her skin was, and damp. The sooner he got her to their uncle, who was also a doctor, the better.

He grabbed his rucksack, and packed a few things they would need for the journey. The first aid kit being one, his pocket-knife, phone-charger, anti-biotics from his dad’s bedside, and also a collection of other pills from the bathroom cabinet.

He picked up a picture of the family, including his mother, and put it in his wallet, for sentimental reasons- he didn’t know when they’d be back, after all.

He ventured once again, holding his nose from the horrific smell, into the kitchen, where he hurriedly picked up some water-bottles, a few snacks and cans of tinned-food.

Then he went to the clinic and grabbed the emergency rucksack which his dad would take on house calls, the world was going to shit out there, and he had no idea what the journey to his cousin’s would hold.

The pack had everything he could need, anaesthetics, bandages, sewing needles, scissors, scalpels, dried cast-powder, slings, burn-lotion, a cardiac monitor, a defibrillator, a decompression kit and a load of other professional equipment that he’d hope to never use.

He was practically taking a portable hospital with him. Ichigo lugged the huge bag to the garage, and strapped it to the back of his bike. He would apologise later, but he had no choice but to take his dad’s truck.

Fitting a muffler onto Kawasaki’s exhaust took a lot longer than he would have hoped; he couldn’t draw so much attention anymore, so he had to be silenced.

When he had placed the tools back on the bench, he called to Karin, and asked her to bring their bags down, and wake her sister.

He sighed and rubbed a hand to his face, the dry crusty feeling against his fingertips sent a fleeting glance to his fingers, to check for any blood wet enough to come off on his skin.  
  
Ichigo froze when he looked at his hand; the tips of his fingers were a disturbing blue, a sure symptom of cyanosis, or a lack of oxygen caused by a bruised lung.   
“Shit.” This meant his condition was worse than he thought.

He cursed his own fragility, he couldn’t afford to be weak; he had to stay strong for his sisters.

He fought the sudden spell of dizziness as he stood up, and braced himself against the tool bench, if he was lucky, that may just have been postural hypotension- he tried to persuade himself that he was okay.

As the world spun, he became aware of small details- the dry splinter-fibre of the bench beneath his swollen fingertips, the ringing in his ears, and even the ticking of the clock in the hallway.

This made the horrendous shriek from upstairs all the more chilling; it rang in his ears and sent his stomach to his feet.

Ichigo sent a number of metal tools clanging to the floor as he stumbled back into the house, his vision blurring and the doorway spinning.

Ichigo could hardly manage to haul himself up the stairs once again, but the threat of his sisters being attacked gave him the boost he needed, he ignored the pain in favour of reaching his sisters.

However, when he reached the top, he could do nothing but stand in confused horror. His brain worked in slow motion, it refused to process information any faster than a snail.

His sisters were…fighting?

Karin was being pushed back against the bathtub, she was one step away from falling backwards and cracking her skull on the ceramic tile wall.  Yuzu was relentless, she was throwing herself at her sister using her hands to claw at her clothes and trying to grab her skin with her teeth.

Another scream of protest from Karin brought Ichigo back to reality, he had to stop this before one of them got hurt. He didn’t know what Yuzu was so upset about; he’d never seen her angry before, but this situation was bringing the worst out in all of them.

“Yuzu! Stop!” Ichigo lunged forward, trying to prevent his sister from falling under her twin’s weight.

Yuzu only screamed and snapped her jaws, her sister pushed on her forehead to keep her teeth away from her skin. An intense shiver ran down Ichigo’s spine, the way she moved, the way she screamed and snapped her teeth, it was like _them._

An overwhelming sense of defeat washed over him, As the world moved slow motion around him, he acted on instinct.

“Yuzu!” He shoved the threat away from his sister, and pulled Karin into his arms. Her twin slammed into the opposite wall and dropped to the floor, but without a moment to recover, her head snapped back up and twisted, readying herself to pounce.

With the crushing feeling that he was doing something wrong, he pulled Karin back and slammed the door on his little sister. The key twisting in the lock finally let him realise what he had just done; he’d turned his back on yuzu, because of his own fear of what she had become.

Perhaps she was scared, maybe she’d thought her sister was another attacker when she had gone to wake her, she was responding in the only way she knew how. Karin was showing the same hesitance, she looked at her brother with a horrifically twisted face, her features contorted in shock.

Ichigo was ready to unlock the door and tell Yuzu he was sorry, but a vicious slam against the door and a howl of rage broke his chain of thoughts, that wasn’t Yuzu. His sister wasn’t the one trying to get through that door.

He had to get away, before the same could happen to Karin. He grabbed Karin by the hand, and retrieved her schoolbag from where it had fallen, giving one reluctant glance to Yuzu’s bag, and the door to their bathroom, before he hauled himself down the stairs; not giving his sister the chance to pull back.

 He ran straight to the garage and locked the house door behind them. The door slammed shut with a low creaking groan, and the lock clicked in place, locking them both out of their home.

Ichigo stared at the door, and his hands began to shake- he felt tears prick his eyes- and he squeezed his sister’s hand, willing himself to stay strong.

His sister was sobbing next to him, the shock overwhelming her, and she clung to his arm- something she’d never done before.

He brought his hand to her hair and pulled her head into his chest. Ichigo pushed his emotions into the embrace; he would not let Karin lose the sense of security he should provide by breaking down infront of her.

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry.   
> Um, is a pier an American thing too? I don't know, if you don't know what a term is, paste it into google search, that guy's very helpful.

**Author's Note:**

> Just an extra warning, this story isn't for the faint of heart, if you're not into angst, don't click the next chapter button.


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